Chemical & Engineering News Digital Edition - January 18, 2010

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professor of chemistry at Columbia University, who is being honored with the E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy. Wilson, the award’s namesake, was one of Flynn’s graduate thesis advisers. “Being honored by an award in Wilson’s name is very special,” Flynn says. “I am particularly pleased to be recognized for using spectroscopy to study molecular dynamics in gases and scanning probe methods to follow the atomic site behavior of interfaces on surfaces.” The research that earned Flynn this award involves work he started less than a decade ago. It focuses on using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to study the Flynn structure of molecules adsorbed on surfaces. His research group has imaged numerous surface adsorbates—including synthetic polypeptides and long-chain, functionalized hydrocarbons—by using functional groups of the molecules as STM markers. The STM markers include sulfur and bromine atoms and carboxyl groups, which have all been used to study the chirality of molecules adsorbed at the interface between a racemic mixture and a solid surface. Flynn’s research group has also used STM to probe chemical reactions of small organic halides on iron oxide surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum and the structure and electronic properties of single sheets of graphite, known as graphene. In addition to Flynn’s work on interface chemistry, his lab has also studied chemical dynamics. Specifically, the group has looked at molecular collisions that lead to chemical reactions or energy exchange between molecules. To do this, the lab developed a diode laser infrared absorption probe technique with a resolution of 0.0003 cm –1 . “George Flynn’s work combines an unusual mixture of innovation and deep scientific insight,” says Nicholas J. Turro, a chemistry professor at Columbia. The work for which Flynn is being honored, Turro continues, “has provided fundamental understanding of and deep insight into the structural and dynamic processes occurring at liquid-solid and vacuum-solid interfaces and the mechanisms of chemical reactions taking place on surfaces.” “The beauty of George’s work is that he makes and interprets difficult measurements always with an eye toward deep AWARDS physical understanding,” notes F. Fleming Crim, a chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “This approach is the hallmark of a great scientist.” Flynn, 71, received a B.S. from Yale University in 1960. He then studied under Wilson and John D. Baldeschwieler at Harvard University, where he earned an M.A. in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 1965. After a postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the Columbia faculty in 1967. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, he has received numerous other honors including the Herbert P. Broida Award from the American Physical Society in 2003 and the Presidential Teaching Award from Columbia in 2000. In addition to overseeing some 40 Ph.D. students during his career, Flynn is also a proud grandfather. Flynn will present the award address before the Division of Physical Chemistry.— SUSAN MORRISSEY COURTESY OF GEORGE FLYNN GEORGE C. PIMENTEL AWARD IN CHEMICAL EDUCATION Sponsored by Cengage Publishing and ACS “Zafra’s two missions in life—chemical education and scientific freedom and human rights—really boil down to one: the desire to allow everyone to achieve their potential.” This testimonial from Amber S. Hinkle, chair of the ACS Women Chemists Committee and Bayer MaterialScience quality lead for plastics manufacturing, succinctly sums up why Zafra J. Lerman is being honored with this award. A native of Israel, Lerman received both B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa. In 1969, she received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot. As a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell Univer- Lerman WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 32 JANUARY 18, 2010 sity, she conducted research in isotope effects, which she continued at Northwestern University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. Lerman is head of Columbia College Chicago’s Institute for Science Education & Science Communication, which she established in 1991. She is a bridge builder on many levels. In 1973, she came to Columbia College, an arts and media-oriented school, to establish a science department. She has developed wide-ranging and innovative approaches to teaching science to nonscience majors, for which she has received numerous awards and national and international recognition. One of her students was Fred Pienkos, who says: “When I think about college, my thoughts go immediately to Zafra and the integral role she played in my education and my life.” He was taking her class called “Ozone to Oil Spills.” To make the subject accessible to her students, Lerman encouraged them apply their creative backgrounds to environmental science. “I was studying animation and photography, so partnering with a classmate, I created a five-minute animated short film about global warming,” Pienkos says. “The film won some recognition from the school, and Zafra arranged for me to fly with her to Princeton to screen the work and talk about it with an environmental science class there. At the time, I knew it was a unique opportunity, but now, nearly 20 years later, I marvel at Zafra’s commitment to my education.” Pienkos is now a visual effects supervisor with Eden FX, in Hollywood, Calif. He has won one Emmy Award and received five nominations. Inspired by Lerman’s teaching, other students have gone on to earn graduate degrees in science, as well as the arts and media. Lerman is also the force behind the grant money given for her programs and curriculum development, including a grant to take several minority students to Ken ya in 2002, where she gave science lectures. Labeeba Hameed, one of those students who is currently working on a graduate degree in art education, says Lerman “gives students once-in-alifetime experiences.” In parallel with her role as an educator, Lerman’s role as a bridge builder in human rights cannot be overlooked. When she was named a fel- LABEEBA HAMEED
low of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2001, her citation read: “For extraordinary innovations in education, especially for nonscientists and the underprivileged, and for truly exceptional success in defending persecuted scientists throughout the world.” Lerman will present the award address before the Division of Chemical Education.—ARLENE GOLDBERG-GIST ACS AWARD FOR CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS Sponsored by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Few places are left in industry where a scientist can pursue good science for its own sake. IBM is one of those places, and Robert D. Miller has made the most of it. Miller, 68, is manager of advanced organic materials at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. An IBMer for 40 years, he has watched the evolution of microelectronics and other advanced technologies from one of the best seats in the house. Miller came to IBM by way of Lafayette College, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Cornell University, and a postdoc at Union Carbide Research Institute. In 1969, when Miller joined IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., organic chemists were rare, but the company was trying to change that. “IBM wanted to learn more about organic materials,” Miller recalls. A few years into his tenure, IBM relocated chemistry to the West Coast. Miller moved to San Jose, and for a while, he continued to pursue his interests in photochemistry, strained molecules, theoretically interesting materials, and other smallmolecule chemistry. But a colleague, Jim Economy, eventually convinced him that the future of chemistry at IBM was in polymers. Miller embarked on research in lithography and soon developed a photoresist sensitizer/polymer that helped IBM shrink microchip wiring dimensions. Work in resists led him to polysilanes, radiation-sensitive materials with interesting spectral and physical properties. He collaborated with Robert West Miller of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Josef Michl of the University of Colorado. C. Grant Willson, a professor at the University of Texas, Austin, calls their results “some of the best work in the world in this area.” Computer chips continued to shrink, and after a stint in nonlinear optical materials, Miller helped IBM’s semiconductor business again when it needed new dielectric materials to block cross talk between closely spaced circuit lines. He helped shepherd an IBM/Dow Chemical collaboration with academic partners that yielded porous SiLK, a low-dielectric-constant organic polymer marketed by Dow. Miller was an early proponent of industrial-academic collaboration, calling publicly for such research as far back as 1982. “I saw the evolution of industrial chemistry away from basic research,” he says, “and academics becoming isolated from technological problems that really mattered to people.” Since then, he observes, the two sides have moved closer. “Over the years, science has become more interdisciplinary, and no one person has all the answers,” Miller says. A desire to work with others on things that matter has guided his research at Stephanopoulos IBM as well. Although Miller could pursue the fundamental science of his early days, he says he would miss “a huge opportunity for interdisciplinary interaction with really smart people.” Indeed, Miller is still going strong, heading an “absolutely exciting” IBM initiative on nanomedicine—polymeric materials for medical applications. Miller considers himself fortunate to be working with top scientists on important issues such as health care, energy, food, and water. “There are lots of really cool and interesting prob- COURTESY OF ROBERT MILLER lems,” he says. “Why would I not do that?” Miller will present the award address before the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering at the fall 2010 ACS national meeting in Boston.—MICHAEL MCCOY WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 33 JANUARY 18, 2010 E. V. MURPHREE AWARD IN INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY Sponsored by ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Gregory N. Stephanopoulos, W. H. Dow Professor of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is being honored for his contributions to metabolic engineering. “Greg Stephanopoulos has made outstanding contributions to the synthesis of new metabolic pathways for the production of chemicals and fuels,” says Robert S. Langer, a chemical engineering colleague at MIT. “These efforts led to the definition and advancement of metabolic engineering as a new type of organic chemistry harnessing the power of microbial biosynthetic machinery for efficient product synthesis.” Stephanopoulos, 59, has played a significant role in defining the field of metabolic engineering, Langer says. “With his groundbreaking book, ‘Metabolic Engineer- COURTESY OF GREGORY STEPHANOPOULOS ing: Principles and Methodologies,’ he established the scientific and engineering fundamentals and thus laid the educational foundations of this new field. This book has created a new interface between chemical engineering and the life sciences,” Langer says. In addition, Stephanopoulos is the founding coeditor of the journal Metabolic Engineering. He also launched a series of conferences on metabolic engineering. Much of Stephanopoulos’ research has focused on microorganisms’ basic metabolism, which he has then used to advance industrial processes. Whereas the hallmark of his research has been a deep focus on metabolic fundamentals in microorganisms, its impact has been felt across product categories ranging from specialty chemicals (pharmaceutical intermediates), bulk chemicals (amino acids), and even renewable fuels (ethanol), says Chaitan Khosla, a professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at Stanford University. Stephanopoulos developed flux analysis for use in metabolic networks and demonstrated its utility in a number of applications. For example, he used network analysis and metabolic engineering to
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